Congress, retailers want to rebuild national parks. Road tolls might pay

Congress is trying to come up with more money to give the aging national parks a facelift in honor of the country’s 250th birthday this year. President Donald Trump talks about the importance of federal facilities looking good, while his budget proposal slashed funding for the National Park Service.

Republican lawmakers are searching for revenue sources including establishing tolls on federally operated roads in the Washington area used daily by tens of thousands of commuters and by hiking fees to visit national parks for visitors from outside the U.S. Democrats say putting tolls on roads that intersect with the Capital Beltway is an untenable solution and that finding new money to fund park overhauls is not necessary since it’s already the government’s responsibility to maintain the parks.

Lawmakers are racing to pass the successor to the Great American Outdoors Act, or GAOA, a law Trump signed during his first term to clear the National Park Service‘s backlog of deferred maintenance in the park system. The law has now expired, and the maintenance backlog has only grown, so Congress wants to pass a successor measure to finish the job.

The national parks are one of the few remaining truly bipartisan issues on Capitol Hill due to their immense popularity with voters. Few lawmakers will oppose funding the parks, and Trump’s proposed cuts and sales of public lands have been routinely vanquished in Congress. And, the parks help support a booming outdoor recreation industry that contributes to the economy, supporting sales of gear and materials from companies such as REI, Patagonia and DuPont.

“If we could find a way to use tolls on federal roads, that’s one way you could fund it,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources. He said he’s looking to create what he’s called the “Next 250 Fund” to fund the parks.

Westerman said tolls would be justified because the first iteration of the Great American Outdoors Act directed money to restore the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a federal road in the metropolitan Washington area. A slew of federally operated roads crisscross the capital area.

“Look at all the money that comes out of the parks in Wyoming that goes to things like the George Washington Parkway, the entrance fees from there, so why shouldn’t that be an option to raise funds to do maintenance backlog going forward?” he asked.

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, ruled out tolling to raise additional tax dollars, saying the drivers who use the Washington-area roads have recoiled from the idea.

“All the colleagues I’ve talked to that represent those areas say it’s a nonstarter, poison pill,” Huffman said.